Five things to watch as Lexington Sporting Club begins its second season in USL League One

Another season of soccer for Lexington Sporting Club is just around the corner.

LSC is set to begin its second season in USL League One — the third tier of American men’s professional soccer — on Saturday night with a home match at Toyota Stadium in Georgetown.

Lexington Sporting finished in ninth place out of 12 teams in USL League One in its debut 2023 season, 11 points out of the playoffs.

With a retooled roster, a new head coach and plenty of exciting projects in the works, LSC has momentum on and off the pitch as its senior men’s team prepares for a second season.

Here are five things you need to know with the LSC season set to start.

Cameron Lancaster headlines several new additions for LSC

Lexington Sporting Club has a new-look roster for its second professional season, and one addition stands out above the rest.

Forward Cameron Lancaster became the most accomplished player in team history when he signed with the club in January. The 31-year-old Lancaster is the all-time leading scorer in Louisville City’s history: Across eight seasons with the USL Championship (second tier) club, Lancaster scored 88 goals in all competitions.

Lancaster won the 2017 and 2018 USL Championship titles with LouCity, and brings top playing pedigree to LSC. A native of London, Lancaster was part of the Tottenham Hotspur Academy and made one senior team appearance for the club during the 2011-12 English Premier League season.

Other notable offseason additions for LSC include defender Jorge Corrales (a player with experience in MLS and with the Cuban national team), midfielder Jayden Onen (formerly of another USL League One team, Forward Madison) and forward Issac Cano (a former standout player at Lexington’s Paul Laurence Dunbar High School who is on a season-long loan from Louisville City).

Lexington Sporting Club’s three captains this season will be Corrales, Lancaster and Amal Knight, a Jamaican international who kept four clean sheets last season as LSC’s primary goalkeeper.

Knight is one of several key returners who were also in the fold for LSC’s 2023 season, along with the team leaders in goals (midfielder Ates Diouf with 15) and assists (defender Tate Robertson with eight).

Darren Powell is Lexington Sporting Club’s new head coach

A new head coach will be overseeing this season’s LSC squad.

In November, 51-year-old Darren Powell was appointed as the team’s new head coach. Last season, men’s sporting director Sam Stockley was the head coach for most matches, before former assistant coach Nacho Novo served as the interim coach near the end of the season.

A native of Nottingham, England, Powell was most recently the director of player development and a first-team assistant coach for Inter Miami of Major League Soccer.

Powell — who has previously served as a coach and academy director at various levels of American soccer — was the head coach of the Elon University men’s team from 2005 to 2013, and is a member of that school’s hall of fame.

Across nine seasons coaching the Phoenix, Powell compiled a 94-68-23 record and reached the NCAA Tournament in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

“It’s more than just being a head coach of a team. It’s trying to grow a community for soccer,” Powell, who played college soccer in the United States at UNC Greensboro, told the Herald-Leader this week. “... Being a head coach again and leading the project was really exciting. When (I) was presented the plans (for) the new stadium and the academy and the growth in this area, I feel like it can be very successful. I want to be a part of that.”

Lexington Sporting Club in search of first playoff appearance

Last season, LSC fell short of the postseason.

With an overall USL League One record of 7-14-11 (W-L-D), LSC had the second-fewest wins of any team in the league. LSC tied for the league lead in draws (11), and the club went winless over its final eight regular season matches.

But making the playoffs will be an easier task in 2024: The USL League One playoff field has been expanded to include the top eight teams from the 12-team league, an increase from last year’s six.

The higher seed will host matches throughout the playoffs.

LSC is planning on playing in its own stadium in August

While the 2024 USL League One season will begin with LSC again playing home matches at Toyota Stadium on the Georgetown College campus in Georgetown, that is expected to change this summer.

LSC is building a soccer-specific stadium in Lexington off Athens Boonesboro Road near Interstate 75.

That stadium (announced last October) is expected to be ready in August, and will host the club’s senior men’s team, a recently Division One-sanctioned USL Women’s Super League team and LSC’s youth clubs. The stadium is slated to initially have a capacity of 5,000 people.

LSC already has a training complex at this site.

“We should be seeing steel beginning to be erected mid-March,” new LSC chief executive officer Kim Shelton said last month. “So it’s happening. So we hope to be playing, we plan to be playing, we will be playing in August.”

New-look competitions part of LSC’s 2024 schedule

Compared to its debut 2023 season, Lexington Sporting Club’s schedule includes some new wrinkles this season.

Most notable is the creation of a new competition, an in-season cup involving all 12 USL League One teams. This competition will include both a group stage component and a knockout round, starting with semifinals.

Lexington Sporting Club was placed in the Central Group for this competition, along with Chattanooga Red Wolves, Forward Madison and One Knoxville. The group stage will include two matches for LSC against each of these other three teams, along with one match each against Central Valley Fuego and Greenville Triumph.

Additionally, LSC will again take part in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Lexington Sporting Club will begin the 109th edition of the tournament — the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States — by playing an away match at Vermont Greens of USL League Two on March 19.

The knockout competition will again feature teams from MLS, USL, the National Independent Soccer Association and MLS Next Pro, along with amateur clubs that qualify. But this year’s competition has featured plenty of controversy: Only eight of MLS’s 26 eligible teams will take part in this year’s tournament.

Last season, LSC went one-and-done in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, losing 1-0 in the second round at Louisville City.

In USL League One play this season, Lexington Sporting Club will play 22 matches, one home and one away match against each of the 11 other teams. The regular season runs from Saturday until Oct. 26.

Next match

Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC at Lexington Sporting Club

What: USL League One season opener

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Toyota Stadium in Georgetown

Live video stream: ESPN Plus

Tickets: www.lexsporting.com/tickets/